About ferrets with chocolate -- do be careful to NOT give ferrets with heart disease chocolate, caffine, licorice or other compounds which affect things like heart rate and blood pressure. What's good for the goose t'aint always good for the gander. Spotty is much improved today. Besides his antibiotics and pepto he's on carafate and prednisone now and the effect is spectacular. He's also polished off almost an entire can of AD since yesterday morning, and put on an ounce! Guess this two day trial is an awfully good indication that what he's dealing with now is secondary colitis. We still don't know what the original illness was but we are behaving and plan to continue to behave for the next year as if it was ECE since there turns out to be that possibility. Yes, I know that most here were sick for only 4 days and that Steve and I were sick with the same symptoms -- but who's to say the smaller-than-small didn't go and mutate into something which would present in such a fashion, viruses are bonkers on that score and the smaller-than-your-average-virus variants are more so. Wonder if on place ECE has been hitching rides is inside people, originally as asymptomatic, but not necessarily now without symptoms. That is no more than speculation, of course. Dang, I was hoping to start a cook book reading rotation with Beth since we both trace assorted aspects like food history, nutritional anthro, techniques, and such. Don't know now that it would be logical now since ferrets can snort some of our's and their sweet Sully has just had major surgery. Until a few days ago we were being careful but really didn't think ECE was likely but the longer Spot's problems last the more it become an option. Though it's not fun or convenient it's better to be safe than sorry and our vet is leaning more and more to it being ECE. Steve was wondering if students who get accepted into vet schools and vets tech pregrams have to perform critter related community service, and if so how the shelters could plug into that possible pool of help? It may be of use to some of you out there. The babies (12 weeks) have recently discovered: how to slide down pant's legs while the pants are being put on, that they can piloerect on their trunks, how to dance with full pronging and proper ferret dash form. Jumpstart has reach 6 months so are wondering if he's still going to grow any more since many stop around now, or if he's always going to have huge feet and his Alfred E. Newman - Dumbo cross ears. Just have to wait and see. He's a good ferret; they all are. Warp was abused before we got her and always shy around males. For instance, even though she has been here 2 and 1/2 years she just would not kiss Steve. Well, a few night ago (not sure how many -- we haven't slept much with Spot) I showed her Steve asleep and she walked over to him and began kissing him in his sleep. He was conked out and did not wake upbut made happy noises so she just kept doing it. She STILL won't kiss him while he's awake, BTW, but wasn't that SO sweet? I am sure the insistance on the ferret testing of the bat strains has to do with those being the ones most commonly seen in people in recent years. Having tested the biggest problem for humans could very much work in our critters' favor in the future. (Don't panic -- in the first case when bats are "up", i.e. have NOT lost use of their rear legs, the percentage infected is in the single digits, and even down most which show neurological symptoms have been poisoned rather than having the illness, plus extremely few folks in the U.S. get rabies, though precautions are needed simply because humans are very susceptable and the illness is so dire. BTW, the use of rodenticides for bats is illogical -- not only is the stuff designed to seep down where you'll be more exposed than the bats but the small amount the bats get actually seems to increase their susceptibility to illness including rabies. Find someone who will study where they go in and out and then WELL close up the opennings after they leave during a non-nursing-non-hibernating season, but expect more mosquitoes, moths, and insect borne illnesses after losing the bats.) Sukie [Posted in FML issue 1939]